Benjamin e



(No Modzal.)

B. E. WATERS. TIME SWITCH FOR ELECTRIC CIRCUITS.

No. 478,180. Paten-ted July 5, 1892.

luf Illu. ,n Nimh UNITED STATES PATENT Erica BENJAMIN E. VATERS, CF BRCCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNCR TO THE VATERS ELECTRIC COMPANY, CF SAME PLACE.

TIME-SWITCH FOR ELECTRIC CIRCUITS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 478,180, dated July 5, 1892.

Serial No. 395,899. (No model.)

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN E. WATERS, of Brockton, county of Plymouth, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Automatic Time-Switches for Electric Circuits, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention relates to an electric switch and mechanism for operating the same automatically at a predetermined hour and miuute of the day, the said apparatus being useful, for example, in places where it is desired to throw one or more electric lamps into operation at a certain time and to throw them out of operation at another predetermined time from day to day.

The apparatus comprises a movable contact maker and breaker by which the desired circuit connections are made or severed at the desired time, and two independently-operated actuators, one for moving the said contact-maker in the direction for making a change of one character in the circuit connections-as, for example, to close a circuit connection-and the other for moving said contact-maker in the direction to produce the reverse change-as, for example, to open the electrical connection closed by the previous movement. The said actuators are shown as impelled by the force of a spring to perform each its own operation on the contact-maker, and the operation of said actuators is controlled by cams-one corresponding to eachmoved by a clock-work or tim e-motor, so that the said cams rotate once in twenty four hours. The actuators engage and move the contact-maker only in the movement of said actuators produced by their spring, and in the return movement by which the actuatingspring is strained preparatory for the next operation no eitect is produced upon the contactmaker. The cams are provided with notches or recesses that permit the actuators to move suddenly under the action of their springs when the cam in its movement arrives at the proper position with relation to said cams, which are adjustable with relation to their connection with the actuating` timemotor, so that each may release the corresponding contact-actuator at any given time for which it is set.

Figure l is a face view of an automaticallyoperated time electric switch embodying this invention; Fig. 2, a sectional detail view showing the contacts in side elevation, and Fig. 3 a sectional detail showing the connection of the cams with their actuating-shaft.

The specific construction of the contacts 6o and the relation of the circuits controlled by them is immaterial, as the apparatus may be employed to produce changes ot any desired character that can be made by moving an electric contactmaker intermit-tingly. As shown in this instance, the contacts are so arranged as to make and break connection between each terminal of aloop or circuit to be supplied with the current and the corresponding members of the current-supplying cir- 7o cuit or to sever such connections.

The switch proper is shown as comprising a pair of contacts a a2 and another pair of contacts Z) b2, all supported in such manner as to be electrically insulated from one another, each of said contacts comprising a pair of sp rin giin gers, between which a corresponding wedge-shaped contact-maker ai or b3 may be wedged, so that the said contact-maker a3 will place the contacts a c? in electrical con 8o tinuity when the said contact-makers a3 Z13 are wedged between the spring-fingers of said contacts, as shown in Fig. 2. The two portions aS h3 of the contact-maker are carried by a bar c ot insulating material, itselt` supported upon a slide-bar c2,havingalongitudinal movement on suitable guides by which the contacts a3 b3 are moved toward and into contact with the contacts a a2 b b2 or away from and outofcontacttherewith. As shown 9o in this instance, the slide-bar c2 is composed in part of a plate c3, having slots ci, moving' on the shanks ot' screws c5, which thus guide the contact-carrier properly, the said slidebar also having shoulders c6 c7, that co-oper- 95 ate with the actuators d d2, shown as levers or arms pivoted at (ZS and acted upon by a spring dt, which tends to separate the ends of the arm d d2, that lie between the shoulders cG cl-in other words, tending to move the arm roo d upward or toward the dotted-line position thereof (shown in Fig. l) and to move the lever d2 downward.

The contact-makend3 b3 is shown in Fig. l in the position in which it was placed at the last movement downward of the actuator d2, in which position it Will remain until thrown by the actuator CZ into dotted-line position.

The actuators d d2 are caused to act alternately and each at the desired hour and minute of the day by the following means: The actuator d has a controlling-linger d5, that rests upon the surface of a cam e, and the actuator cl2 has a similar controlling-finger d?, that rests upon the surface of a controllingcam e2. a spindlef, connected by gearing (shown in dotted lines at g) with a time motor or clock h, the said gearing being such that the spindlefand the cams e c2 thereon rotate oncein twenty-four hours. The position of said cams with relation to the shaft f may be changed, as desired, to make them operate at the proper time, and when properly adjusted they may be clamped orotherwise firmly fastened upon the said shaft, as by the clamping-screw h2. (See Fig. 3.) The said cams are each composed, mainly, of a circular disk, the periphery of which supports the controlling-fingers,

d5 d6 with the actuator-arms CZ d2 in full-line position and the spring d4 under strain; but each of said disks is provided with a shoulder or notch e3 et, one side of which is about radial and the other inclined from the bottom of the radial portion toward the unnotched part ofthe periphery.

The operation is as follows: Assuming that the parts are in the position shown in Fig. l, the cams e c2 turn slowly in the direction of the arrow, and at a certain time of the day, dependent upon the position at which the cam e is set on the shaft f, the notch e3 arrives at the controlling-linger (l5 of the actuator d, permitting the said actuator to be thrown suddenly by the spring d4 into the dotted-line position. At this time the finger d6 of the other actuator d2 is still upon the periphery of the cam e2, and thus remains in its full-line position, so that the actuator d in its sudden spring-impelled movement engages the shoulder c6 and throws the contact-carrier into position to produce electric connection between contacts a a2 and between contacts b b2. Then as the cams c e2 continue their slow movement the inclined side of the notch in the cam c gradually presses the actuator d back to its full-line position; but inasmuch The said cams e e2 are mounted uponateneo as the actuator does not engage the contactmaker in this movement the said contactmaker remains in the position in which it was thrown by the actuator d, which may be called the closed position. Then at a predetermined later time the notch e4 of the cam e2 arrives at the inger d6 of the opening-actuator cl2, which is then moved suddenly by the spring d* in the direction to restore the contact-makers to full-line positions, and thus open the circuit between a and a2 and between Z) and b2. Then in the further movement the inclined side of the notch e4 in the cam e forces the actuator d2 back to the fullline position without further movement in the contact-maker, which remains in the open position until again operated by the closingactuator d. Thus the circuit controlled by the instrument is shifted from one to the other condition at the desired moment in the day, and such movements are repeated each day as long as the time-motor is kept running without any care on the part of the attendant.

It is obvious that the details of construction can be varied without departing from the essential features of the invention, it being unnecessary, for example, that the actuators should have a pivotal or rocking movement, and also being unnecessary that both should be operated by the same spring, the essential feature beingthat the said actuators are moved promptly by a suitable force, their actuating movement being controlled but not produced by the time-motor and the movement of each being independent of the other and capable of independent adjustment as to its time of occurrence.

I claim- The combination, with the stationary contacts, of the movable contact-maker and its supporting and guiding slide-bar provided with engaging projections or shoulders, and pivoted spring-actuated levers each having one arm arranged to co-operate with one of said shoulders of the slide-bar, and a timemotor and cams operated thereby controlling the other arms of said actuating-levers, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BENJAMIN E. VATERS.

Witnesses:

Jos. P. LivERMoRE, M. E. HILL.

IOO 

